A lesbian police lieutenant has been awarded $750,000 in a settlement with a New Jersey town after she accused the local police chief of discriminatory conduct based upon her sexual orientation and gender.

The settlement, reached in August, was recently made public through an open records request by Transparency New Jersey.

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When two gay people got her former job and the position she wanted, Marlean Ames decided to sue.

The lawsuit, filed by Constance Crea against the Township of Piscataway, alleged former police chief Thomas Mosier subjected her to “persistent sexual and sexual orientation harassment and abuse.” Her suit detailed a litany of abusive behavior directed at her.

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Crea’s was one of six complaints lodged by department staff against the now-retired police chief.

Crea accused Mosier of habitually yelling at her and making degrading comments, telling her to “doll herself up” and asking repeatedly, “Who’s mowing the grass?’”, a reference to sex with her wife.

Crea said Mosier admitted to promoting a straight colleague into a competitive position so he could “stare at her in her yoga pants.”

As the same colleague walked by the chief’s desk, the chief allegedly “grabbed his genitals and rubbed them while making sexual moaning sounds in self-gratification” — Crea was alone with him while he allegedly did this, her suit stated.

The lawsuit said Mosier failed to discipline officers when they placed an inflatable naked female doll in a glass window visible to civilians at the station. Catcalls in the presence of other female officers often occurred.

The lawsuit also stated Crea was shut out of discussions of personnel and administrative issues and never selected to participate in the department’s hiring process.

The chief accused her of both managing her subordinates too actively and “barely doing” her job when she gave officers more freedom to do their work, Crea said.

Mosier treated heterosexual female officers “entirely differently” than he treated Crea, the lawsuit stated, pointing to COVID-19 pandemic rules allowing heterosexual women officers to work at home while requiring Crea to work in person.

Crea said she didn’t report the harassment for fear of retaliation. Mosier retired in 2022, and Crea left the department the same year.

As part of the settlement, Crea agreed to “irrevocably retire” from township employment effective August 1, 2024, and to never seek employment with Piscataway again.

Three other lawsuits filed against Mosier allege racial discrimination, according to My Central Jersey.

Plaintiff Robert Wei claims he faced discrimination based on his Asian ancestry. Alan Barboui, an immigrant, alleged Mosier referred to him as one of “you damn foreigners.” Another former officer of South Asian descent said Mosier called him “Aladdin,” the name of an oft-referenced character from a Middle-eastern folk tale.

Another lawsuit, since dismissed, claimed an officer was the victim of age and sex discrimination because he was passed over for a promotion by Mosier for a younger woman.

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